The Fermi paradox asks: If there are other civilizations in the Universe besides ours, why haven't we yet made contact?
Researchers who study this paradox – also called the Great Silence – generally point to two explanations. First, maybe it's that intelligence is "intrinsically rare", writes Celia Blanco, who authored new research into this question.
The second is where Blanco and her colleagues have focused their work: "While intelligence may emerge, technological civilizations are typically short-lived, succumbing to self-destruction through ecological collapse, conflict, or other systemic instabilities."
Self-destruction might not mean complete annihilation, though.
Blanco and her team's idea is that the Universe could be full of technological civilizations that rise, collapse, rebuild, and rise again – spending long stretches in technological dormancy. If so, that could explain the cosmic silence we're currently experiencing.
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